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UN Security Council urges peace amid mounting Mideast war fears

Special UN Security Council urges peace amid mounting Mideast war fears
Slovenia’s representative to the UN Security Council Samuel Zbogar speaks during a meeting on Ukraine, on the sidelines of UNGA79, New York, US, Sept. 24, 2024. (Reuters)
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Updated 25 September 2024
Caspar Webb
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UN Security Council urges peace amid mounting Mideast war fears

UN Security Council urges peace amid mounting Mideast war fears
  • Need to maintain security ‘more pressing than ever,’ joint statement says
  • Israeli strikes this week have killed more than 500 Lebanese, injured thousands
Updated 25 September 2024
Caspar Webb
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NEW YORK CITY: The UN Security Council has issued a statement warning against the “scourge of war” amid heightened fears of regional conflict in the Middle East.

It follows a significant escalation between Israel and Hezbollah this week, with Israeli strikes killing more than 500 Lebanese citizens and injuring thousands.

The UNSC’s focus is also on the Russia-Ukraine war and conflict in Sudan, with representatives from all three countries present in New York City this week for the 79th UN General Assembly.

“The Security Council recalls that the UN was established to save mankind from the scourge of war,” the statement said.

“The need to strengthen resolve to maintain international peace and security, consistent with the UN Charter, is more pressing than ever.”

Issued by the UNSC president for September, Samuel Zbogar, the statement described the UN Charter’s principles as “universal, indispensable and irreplaceable foundations of a more safe, peaceful, just, equal, inclusive, sustainable and prosperous world.” Achieving and sustaining global peace requires a “comprehensive approach,” it added.

The UNSC highlighted its “strong support for the protection of civilians in armed conflict. The council calls upon all parties to armed conflict to comply fully with their obligations under international humanitarian law, in order to respect and protect civilians, including humanitarian personnel, and reiterates its commitment towards accountability for violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.”

Alongside the permanent five members of the UNSC — the US, UK, France, Russia and China — there are 10 non-permanent members: Algeria, Japan, Ecuador, Guyana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, South Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia and Switzerland.

The statement added: “The Security Council reaffirms that development, peace and security, and human rights are interlinked and mutually reinforcing.

“The council recognizes that the spirit that guided the creation of the UN should prevail and inspire mankind to persist on the path of peace.”

Topics: UNGA79 Russia-Ukraine Conflict Sudan Lebanon Samuel Zbogar

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Why is only limited aid getting to Palestinians inside Gaza?

Why is only limited aid getting to Palestinians inside Gaza?
Updated 7 sec ago
AP
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Why is only limited aid getting to Palestinians inside Gaza?

Why is only limited aid getting to Palestinians inside Gaza?
  • Aid groups accuse the Israeli military of hindering and even blocking shipments in Gaza
Updated 7 sec ago
AP

JERUSALEM: The US decided not to punish Israel over the dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip after giving it an ultimatum to increase aid entering the territory. But the flow of food, medicine and other supplies to Palestinians is still at nearly its lowest level of the entire 13-month-old war.

The White House last month gave Israel 30 days to improve conditions or risk losing military support. As the deadline expired Tuesday, leading international aid groups said Israel had fallen far short.

But the US State Department announced it would not take any punitive action, saying Israel has made limited progress. However, it called for more steps.

Aid groups accuse the Israeli military of hindering and even blocking shipments in Gaza. Almost the entire population of around 2.3 million Palestinians relies on international aid for survival, and doctors and aid groups say malnutrition is rampant. Food security experts say famine may already be underway in hard-hit north Gaza.

“It’s really frustrating because by almost every objective metric, all agencies say that the humanitarian situation has gotten worse in that time frame that the US has specified,” Aseel Baidoun, a senior manager of the aid group Medical Aid for Palestinians, said.

“Even though we have provided all the evidence that there is a risk of famine ... still the U.S. miraculously finds Israel not violating the humanitarian aid law.”

Israel, which controls all crossings into Gaza, says it is committed to delivering humanitarian assistance and has scrambled to ramp up aid. 

COGAT, the military body in charge of aid passage, said they had taken a number of steps over the past month to increase the amount entering the territory, including opening a fifth crossing — into central Gaza — this week. 

Israel says the UN and international aid groups need to do a better job of distributing supplies.

Aid into Gaza is typically measured in terms of truckloads of food and supplies entering the territory. The US has demanded 350 trucks daily — still below the 500 a day that entered before the war.

In October, aid entry plunged to its lowest level since the first month of the war. Israeli government figures show roughly 57 trucks a day entering on average. The average has risen to 100 a day so far in November, slightly lower than the same month last year.

The UN, however, says even less is entering. It reports receiving an average of 39 trucks daily since the beginning of October. This is largely because it says it cannot reach the main crossing point in the south to collect cargos due to Israeli military restrictions and lawlessness. The UN says virtually no food or other aid has reached the northernmost part of Gaza since the beginning of October. That’s when the Israeli military launched a major offensive against Hamas fighters in the area of Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, cutting them off.

Israel says October’s drop in aid was because it closed crossings into Gaza during the Jewish high holidays. It said it couldn’t allow deliveries to the far north in October because of the fighting.

Under international pressure, COGAT allowed two deliveries to the far north this month.

But little of it got through. Last week, the World Food Programme said troops on the ground ordered its trucks to unload their cargo before reaching their destination. 

Topics: War on Gaza

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Israel wants freedom to strike Lebanon even after ceasefire, France says

Israel wants freedom to strike Lebanon even after ceasefire, France says
Updated 13 min 41 sec ago
Reuters
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Israel wants freedom to strike Lebanon even after ceasefire, France says

Israel wants freedom to strike Lebanon even after ceasefire, France says
  • “Today we hear in Israel voices calling for it to keep a capacity to strike at any moment or even enter Lebanon,” said Barrot
  • “That is not compatible with the sovereignty of a strong country“
Updated 13 min 41 sec ago
Reuters

PARIS: Israeli officials are insisting on maintaining a capacity to strike Lebanon at any moment as part of conditions to secure a ceasefire with Iran-backed Hezbollah, France’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.
Speaking to a parliamentary hearing after holding talks in Israel last week in Jerusalem, Jean-Noel Barrot said it was a condition increasingly voiced among Israeli officials.
“Today we hear in Israel voices calling for it to keep a capacity to strike at any moment or even enter Lebanon, as is the case with its neighbor Syria,” said Barrot, who held talks with Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and new Defense Minister Israel Katz last week.
“That is not compatible with the sovereignty of a strong country,” Barrot said, referring to broader efforts to help strengthen Lebanon’s governance.
Several diplomats said that it would be all but impossible to get Hezbollah or Lebanon to accept any proposal that included this demand.
There was no immediate comment from Israel on the remarks. Its defense minister, Israel Katz, said earlier: “We will not allow any arrangement that does not include the achievement of the war’s objectives — and above all Israel’s right to enforce and act on its own against any terrorist activity.”
France, which has historical ties with Lebanon, has sought to play a role in trying to secure a ceasefire in the Middle Eastern country.
It has worked with the United States to try to implement a temporary ceasefire, but those talks stalled at the end of September.
Coordination between Paris and the outgoing US administration to get a ceasefire has been more complicated since, with US envoy Amos Hochstein focused on his own proposals.
Barrot said it made no sense for France to lead initiatives by itself on Lebanon given it needed the United States to convince Israel, just like it was not helpful for Washington to go it alone because it would “lack a fine appreciation of Lebanon’s internal political dynamics,” he said.

Topics: Battlefield Lebanon Israel Hezbollah French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot

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Six Israeli troops killed in south Lebanon combat: army

Six Israeli troops killed in south Lebanon combat: army
  • The soldiers “fell during combat in southern Lebanon,” the army said
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JERUSALEM: The Israeli army said six soldiers have been killed in fighting in southern Lebanon Wednesday, making it the deadliest day for its troops since the start of ground operations in September.
The soldiers “fell during combat in southern Lebanon,” the army said in a statement. Their deaths mean 47 Israeli troops have been killed in combat with Hezbollah since the start of ground operations on September 30.

Topics: Battlefield Lebanon Israel Hezbollah

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Hezbollah says launched drone attack on Israel military HQ

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Hezbollah says launched drone attack on Israel military HQ

Hezbollah says launched drone attack on Israel military HQ
  • Hezbollah said it conducted an “aerial attack with a squadron of exploding drones“
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BEIRUT: Hezbollah said it launched a drone attack targeting Israel’s military headquarters and ministry of defense in the city of Tel Aviv on Wednesday.
In a statement, the Lebanese militant group said it conducted an “aerial attack with a squadron of exploding drones” on the site housing Israel’s main defense institutions in the commercial hub.
The Israeli military said in two statements that it intercepted two drones and 40 projectiles launched from Lebanon, and that the attack had caused no injuries.
The statements did not specify what sites had been targeted.

Topics: Battlefield Lebanon Hezbollah Israel

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No end in sight to Sudan war as both sides seek ‘decisive’ win

No end in sight to Sudan war as both sides seek ‘decisive’ win
Updated 13 November 2024
AFP
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No end in sight to Sudan war as both sides seek ‘decisive’ win

No end in sight to Sudan war as both sides seek ‘decisive’ win
  • Rosemary DiCarlo, UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs said: “Let me stress that both warring parties bear responsibility for this violence“
  • “All indicators so far show that both sides are committed to military solutions, with no genuine interest in political resolutions,” said Mohamed Osman of HRW
Updated 13 November 2024
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CAIRO: Sudan has seen a surge in extreme violence in recent weeks as the warring military and paramilitary push for a decisive victory, with no political solution in sight.
Fighting between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has intensified since late October, with reports of attacks on civilians including sexual violence against women and girls raising alarm.
The war that erupted in April 2023 has created what the UN calls the world’s worst displacement crises, with more than 11 million people forced from their homes.
It has put the country on the brink of famine, and sparked warnings of intensifying violence in a war that has already killed tens of thousands.
“Over the last two weeks, the situation in the country has been marked by some of the most extreme violence since the start of the conflict,” according to Rosemary DiCarlo, UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs.
“Let me stress that both warring parties bear responsibility for this violence,” she said, adding that both sides “seem convinced they can prevail on the battlefield.”
Since October 20, at least 124 civilians have been killed in central Al-Jazira state and another 135,000 have fled to other states, according to the UN.
With global attention focused on other wars, chiefly in Ukraine and the Middle East, civilians in Sudan are paying a steep price for the escalation.
“All indicators so far show that both sides are committed to military solutions, with no genuine interest in political resolutions or even easing the suffering of civilians,” according to Mohamed Osman of Human Rights Watch.
Amani Al-Taweel, director of the Africa program at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo, agreed.
“There is no political solution on the horizon,” she told AFP, adding that both sides were seeking a “decisive military solution.”
The war in Sudan has pitted army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan against his erstwhile ally Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, leader of the RSF.
The country is split into zones of control, with the army holding the north and east, and the government based in Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast.
The RSF controls much of the capital Khartoum, the Darfur region in the west and parts of Kordofan in the south, while the center is split.
With no mandatory military conscription, the Sudanese army includes Islamist-leaning forces as well as other factions.
The RSF is primarily made up of tribal militias from Darfur’s Arab communities.
According to local reports, the army has about 120,000 troops while the RSF has 100,000.
On the battlefield, Sudan’s air force gives the military an advantage.
Rights groups have accused both sides of committing atrocities.
The UN population agency published on Tuesday horrific accounts of women and girls fleeing the violence, including one who said she was urged to kill herself with a knife rather than be raped.
Successive rounds of talks have been held in Saudi Arabia, but the negotiations have yet to produce a ceasefire.
In August, the Sudanese military opted out of US-brokered negotiations in Switzerland and an African Union-led mediation has also stalled.
“The deadlock in peaceful channels, whether regionally or internationally, is exacerbating the violence,” said Mahmud Zakaria, a professor of political science at Cairo University’s Faculty of African Postgraduate Studies.
Since October, the RSF escalated its attacks in Al-Jazira state, south of Khartoum, following what the military said was the defection of one of its commanders to the army.
Before the war, Al-Jazira was known as Sudan’s breadbasket, hosting Africa’s largest agricultural project, yielding 65 percent of the country’s cotton, according to Zakaria.
Some areas have been scarred by conflict before.
Darfur saw a major war two decades ago, during which the then-government’s allies in the Janjaweed militia faced accusations of ethnic cleansing and genocide.
With roots in the Janjaweed, the RSF became a force in its own right in 2013.
Sudan’s conflict has increasingly drawn in regional powers, prompting the United States to urge all countries to stop arming rival generals.
Former Egyptian deputy foreign minister for African affairs Ali el-Hefny said progress will require global willpower.

Topics: Sudan Unrest rapid support forces (RSF) Al-Jazira General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan Mohamed Hamdan Daglo

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